BLOOD ORANGE OLIVE OIL YOGURT CAKE
This recipe makes one 9 or 10 inch cake, or 10-12 cakelettes
Ingredients for candied blood oranges:
3 blood oranges, thinly sliced, preferably organic
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Ingredients for cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
3/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1 cup whole plain yogurt, at room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature, preferably organic
zest of one blood orange
Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Liberally spray the cake pan or ramekins you are using with a non-stick cooking oil spray.
Make the candied oranges by whisking together the sugar and water in a large sauce pan. Heat on medium heat until slightly thicken, about 5 minutes. Gently add the orange slices and simmer on low heat for an addition 3 minutes and then remove from the heat. Layer the cake pan with the slices covering the entire bottom of the pan and gently pour 1/2 cup of the remaining syrup over the slices. If using the ramekins, add a single slice of candied blood orange and top with a tablespoon of syrup. For the cake, prepare your wet and dry ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients, the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cardamom together until well combined. Whisk together the wet ingredients, the butter, oil, yogurt and eggs until combined into a homogeneous mixture, about 2 minutes. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredient only until just combine, do not over mix. Add the blood orange zest and gently fold until just combined. Scoop the batter about 2/3 of the way up 10-12 ramekins, or a 10 inch cake pan. Bake ramekins for 25 minutes until just baked and a cake testing skewer or toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack. Allow to cool for 15 minutes on a baking rack and then turn over onto a serving plate. If using a cake pan, bake for 32-37 minutes until just baked and a cake testing skewer or toothpick comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack for 15 minutes, and then turn over onto a cake plate to serve. The candied blood oranges are heavenly in scent and delectable in taste. The slight hint of the olive oil, tang of the yogurt and exotic fragrance of the cardamom are intoxicating .This is hard to resist on its own, but even more so with a scoop of Meyer Lemon Ice Cream adorning it!
MEYER LEMON ICE CREAM
Ingredients:
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Meyer lemon juice, approximately 5 small lemons (may substitute another variety of lemon)
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Zest the whole Meyer lemons, cut and juice. In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the cream, milk and sweetened condensed milk until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated, about 3 minutes. Add the Meyer lemon zest and juice, and a pinch of salt. Whisk to combine. You can see the deep yellow strands of flavorful zest sprinkled throughout the base. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer’s directions. Pack the ice cream into a 1-quart freezer container, and completely cover the surface of the ice cream with plastic wrap. Cover tightly with the lid, and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.
